


Grace

by Jcapasso916



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-25
Packaged: 2018-07-16 15:51:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 15,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7274263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jcapasso916/pseuds/Jcapasso916
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gabriel's grace latches onto Sam after the confrontation in Changing Channels, causing the archangel no end of annoyance, and worse, making Sam completely unusable as a vessel for Lucifer and putting Gabriel as the most wanted being in all of creation...assuming they find out that is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Gabriel watched Sam, Dean, and Castiel walk out of the warehouse as the sprinkler rained down on him, soaking him to the bone as it slowly extinguishing the ring of holy fire that held him prisoner and bound his grace. He was more than nervous to see what his grace would do when it was free. He had been very careful not to use his grace directly on Sam Winchester ever since he felt that first tug of connection when they met. Everything that had happened to him was triggered by something else that his grace was poured into. They hadn’t left him a choice though. In order to bring Sam back from being the car he’d had to touch him with his grace, and in the brief moment before the holy fire sprung up around him, he thought that he could feel all his worst fears coming to fruition. 

Sure enough, as the last flicker of the holy fire was snuffed out, his grace was dancing with the joy that only a pure soul connection could bring and Gabriel groaned. This was the last thing he needed. Being bound to someone like this was bad enough, but for it to be his brother’s vessel? He was so dead. Literally. Lucifer could never touch Sam now, and all of heaven would be gunning for his head soon enough. And he couldn’t even go underground either because his grace would keep bringing him back to Sam. This was a nightmare. The only thing he had left that he could do is try to keep the hunters away from any and all angels. Well, except for Cassie. He had fallen so far already that he wouldn’t be able to see the bond and even if he could, he probably wouldn’t care. Of course, he would tell dumb and dumber about it, so keeping him in the dark was still necessary. 

Gabriel steadfastly ignored the part of him that was happy about this development. Sure, Sam would be safe now, but Gabriel’s head was on a chopping block and he refused to be happy about that. He loved Sam. Of course he did. How could he not? But Sam was his brother’s vessel. Sam was one of the keys of the apocalypse. Sam was going to die. He couldn’t afford to love Sam. This didn’t change anything. Sam would still die. He was no longer useful to them. He was expendable, and their tempers alone would see him dead. Just one more reason to keep them away from angels. The main reason though was to keep Gabriel’s head firmly attached. At least that’s what Gabriel told himself, and only his deep-rooted stubbornness allowed him to believe it. 

He had been standing there a full hour after the holy fire was gone before he snapped himself out of his thoughts, dried himself off, and disappeared. He was still sitting in his apartment, glass of brandy in his hand, when he felt a tugging in his grace. “Oh Shi-“

When he landed in Sam’s motel room, he was just quick enough to put the hunter to sleep before he was noticed. That was what he was here for anyway. Sam couldn’t sleep and was getting frustrated. Gabriel realized that he was going to have to be quicker on the invisibility thing if this was going to keep happening…and have some excuses ready for when he wasn’t quick enough. For now, though, he was in the clear. Dean was already asleep and he knocked Sam out before he was noticed. Only his distraction kept him from noticing the curious seraph watching from the shadows as he returned home to his brandy. 

Cas still had enough of his own grace left to check and see if Gabriel had done anything to the Winchesters and he was even more curious to find that all he had done was put Sam to sleep. And just a normal sleep. Not even an enchanted sleep where Gabriel could mess with his dreams. In fact, Cas was pretty sure he could sense a filter against nightmares that felt like Gabriel’s work. That was strange. He decided to refrain from mentioning this to the hunters. He could find nothing wrong and telling them would only make them angry and nervous, and they had more important things to do. If he had missed something though, if they had any unexplained issues, he would come clean. 

 

It was a few days later before he felt another tug on his grace. Of course he had to be in the hot tub being fed grapes by a beautiful woman at the time. He just barely had enough time to go invisible before he appeared next to Sam to see a mousy looking woman fawning all over him, and he was clearly exceedingly annoyed by it. Gabriel just barely managed to restrain his grace enough not to leave her as little more than a stain on the ground, and instead had her rushing to the bathroom trying not to mess up her pretty brown skirt, but hey. At least it was the right color to hide it if she didn’t make it. 

Sam and Dean stared after her confusedly before turning back to Chuck and Gabriel sighed with relief. He was in the clear. No one had noticed him. He was pretty sure at least. He could swear the prophet had looked in his direction and given what he would almost consider a proud smile, but that was impossible. No one, prophet or not, could detect him when he was cloaked and why the hell would he be proud even if he did. No. It was probably just gas or something. 

Gabriel had barely even managed to relax again after that annoying encounter before he was yanked to Sam’s side again, this time too quickly for him to react and he was fully visible as a group of child ghosts bore down on the hunters and had them dead to rights. He let his grace go this time as the ghosts disappeared and Sam was healed from his wounds and he set out to cover for his presence. “Geez. Stop by to check in on my favorite morons and walk into a massacre. Can you guys ever go more than a few days without getting yourselves into trouble?” he said amusedly. 

“What the hell do you want, Gabriel,” Dean asked heatedly, placing himself between the annoying archangel and his brother, as he usually did. 

“And how did you find us? I thought we were hidden from angels,” Sam chimed in. 

“And you’re very welcome for saving your lives,” Gabriel said rolling his eyes. “You really think I wouldn’t put my own trackers in the lynchpins of the apocalypse? Please,” he lied easily. He hadn’t been able to find them before, but now Sam’s soul was his tracker. 

“You didn’t answer my question. What do you want?” Dean asked again. 

“Just to play,” Gabriel said with a laugh and a waggle of his eyebrows before he disappeared. Let them jump at shadows for a while and wonder exactly what he’d done. Over the next week and a half, Gabriel was yanked to Sam’s side at least once or twice a day and he was getting beyond annoyed. He wondered if this whole thing would always be so sensitive or if it was just because he had denied it for so long. He hoped it would settle down eventually though. So far he had fixed Sam’s computer, got him wifi in dead zones three times, cleaned a particularly nasty motel room, healed a shaving nick, gotten rid of nightmares twice, and retrieved four objects that he’d left in various places. It was ridiculous.


	2. Chapter 2

When he found himself at Sam’s side and saw them running from hellhounds, Dean carrying a blonde girl, and sensed his brother nearby he just snapped them somewhere else. He wasn’t even paying attention to where, as he reached out to heal the blonde girl because that’s what Sam’s soul was crying out for, as he said, “What the hell are you idiots thinking?! Do you have any idea how close Lucifer was?!”

“Yeah. We do,” Dean snapped. “And you need to send us back so we can kill him.”

“Did you hit your head recently or are you just naturally stupid? You can’t kill him,” Gabriel snapped back. 

“We can with this,” Dean said smugly holding up the colt. 

“Oh for the love of…” Gabriel grabbed the gun from Dean’s hand and put a bullet in his temple before tossing it back to him as the wound closed over. “Doesn’t work on archangels dumbass.” 

“Great. And now you wasted a bullet,” Sam said annoyed, both that their plan to get Lucifer wouldn’t work and that they were low on ammo. 

“Oh here you go you big baby,” Gabriel said as a whole case of the special bullets appeared in his hand. His grace was going to do that anyway, Gabriel just managed to play it off as intentional and grudging. “Now you two need to stay the hell away from Lucifer.”

“We still have to find a way to take him out,” Sam said. “And what happened to you wanting us to say yes?” 

“That was before,” Gabriel tried to wave it off. 

“Before what…” Sam asked. 

Gabriel realized that asking them to stay away from Lucifer was never going to happen. Not as long as he was a threat. The only way out of this was for him to get involved. “Okay, I’ll tell you what. I’ll find a way to handle Lucifer if you will stay as far away as possible, no matter what.”

“Why would you do that?” Dean asked suspiciously.

“Do you want my help or not?” Gabriel barked. 

“Yes!” Sam interrupted before his brother could say anything else. He wasn’t sure how far he trusted the trickster archangel, but they would be fools to turn down his help. “Thank you Gabriel,” he added. 

“Um…where are we?” Jo asked curiously. 

Gabriel looked around and realized where he had brought them. “My island. You wanna go back to the old guy’s?” 

“You mean Bobby?” Dean said pointedly. 

“Whatever,” Gabriel waved off the correction. 

“I need my car…”

“It’ll be waiting for you there,” Gabriel said. 

“I swear if you do anything to my car…” Dean warned. 

“You’ll what?” Gabriel asked snottily. 

“Please, Gabriel?” Sam asked hopefully. 

Gabriel hadn’t been planning to do anything to the stupid car anyway, so he just looked at Sam and said, “Fine. Good as new.” He didn’t give any of them a chance to respond before they were all standing outside Bobby’s next to the impala.

“What the hell was that about? You can’t tell me you actually trust that little bastard,” Dean asked Sam heatedly. 

“Of course not. But right now we have no more ideas on how to take out Lucifer and looking for him without one would be stupid. This way we get his help and if we find a way before he does, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. We just agreed to stay away from Lucifer, not that we would stop looking for a way to kill him.”

Dean blinked at him for a moment as he wrapped his head around Sam’s reasoning. “So basically, if he doesn’t help us, nothing changes anyway, and if he does then we’re good. Good thinking.”

 

Once they were gone and Gabriel was alone on the island, he sank petulantly into the sand. And the nightmare just kept getting worse. Now he had to actively take on his brother. He wasn’t about to go about it all suicidal though. A straight up attack was just about the definition of suicidal. He would find a way to do it with as little risk to himself as possible. He couldn’t not do whatever he could to protect Sam…er…to keep Lucifer from seeing Sam and the bond tying him to Gabriel. So Gabriel could stay out of the line of fire. 

Gabriel was pulled to Sam a few more times, usually to help him find answers. He was annoyed to see that they were still looking for ways to take down Lucifer, but as long as they stayed away from him, researching wouldn’t hurt. Luckily for him, the only answer was that there was only one way to kill him and that was with an archangel blade, which they couldn’t get their hands on. He resigned himself to being asked for his at some point when they ran out of other ideas. They wouldn’t be nearly so suicidal as to as Michael or Raphael. They would keep looking for another answer though. One that didn’t exist and Gabriel resigned himself to that uncomfortable twitching of his grace when Sam wanted something that couldn’t be done. 

Sam had noticed how everything had been coming up his way for the last few weeks. Always having signal, never losing anything, never getting hurt, twice now Gabriel had showed up at just the right moment to save their asses, finding the right information at the right times, not having any nightmares. He wasn’t sure what had prompted this string of good luck but he certainly wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. 

Sam was scared and disoriented when Gabriel was pulled to his side with so much force he wasn’t able to cloak himself at all. He had noticed that pattern. The more intense or urgent the hunter’s feelings, the more violently his grace reacted, not giving him time to hide. Even as his grace reached out to clean the drugs from the hunter’s system, and heal his bruises, Gabriel started laughing. “You know…if I’d thought it would make a difference…I would have mentioned your need for professional help…a long time ago,” he managed through his guffaws. 

“We’re here for a job, not for ourselves,” Sam said petulantly. 

“Hey might as well take the help while it’s offered,” Gabriel pointed out amusedly. 

“Why are you here?” Sam asked annoyed. 

Gabriel took advantage of the fact that Sam had been drugged out of his mind to fashion an excuse. “You prayed for me,” he lied. 

“God, I must have really been out of it,” Sam said confused. 

“You were definitely on a wacky trip,” Gabriel chuckled. 

“Well you can leave now,” Sam said pointedly and Gabriel promptly disappeared. 

It wasn’t long before Gabriel was back though and Sam was strapped to a table, drugged up again, and with a wraith bearing down on him. Gabriel’s grace lashed out and left her as little more than a burnt spot on the floor before he looked down at Sam and raised an amused eyebrow as the corners of his lips twitched and his grace cleaned up the hunter…again. He tried not to think of all the fun he could have with a trussed up hunter, and instead see the amusement of the situation. 

“Are you just gonna stare at me or you gonna let me loose,” Sam snapped. Then it got even better as Dean skidded around the corner wild-eyed and looking for something to kill and Gabriel couldn’t hold it in any longer. He let Sam loose and started laughing. 

“You guys are priceless. Truly,” he gasped out as he disappeared leaving them to find their own way out.


	3. Chapter 3

That was three times now that Gabriel had shown up just in time to save their asses, and Sam was starting to wonder if there was more going on here than he knew. He wasn’t entirely sure how much he bought Gabriel’s story that he’d prayed for him when he was drugged up. Sure, it was conceivable, but he had buried any feelings he had for the annoying archangel down so deep that he doubted even the drugs could have made him call out for Gabriel. He would have called Cas first. Then there were all the questions that Gabriel kept pushing off. Why he suddenly didn’t want them anywhere near Lucifer, despite trying to get them to say yes a few weeks ago and why he suddenly wanted to help them. It just didn’t make sense. 

Some part of Sam’s mind, a part he had been trying for years to quash, piped up that maybe Gabriel actually had feelings for him, but that didn’t make any sense. If that was the case, why all the crap with tv land to begin with? And why the abrupt about-face? No. Something happened between tv land and that disastrous convention, but what? Sam still hadn’t figured it out by the time he woke up in someone else’s body. By the time he got up to the kid’s bedroom and had a chance to think about it, he started to panic. Did he need to be the one in his body to say yes to Lucifer? Before he even had a chance to get good and worked up, Gabriel appeared in the room, took one look at the situation and started laughing again. “Not really digging the new look there Samsquatch. You’re not quite old enough to be worried about trading down to a younger body.”

“This isn’t funny Gabriel! What if whoever is in my body says yes to Lucifer?” Sam asked frantically. 

Gabriel wished it was that easy. Gabriel’s grace was tied to Sam’s soul which was now in this body. If it were simply the body that Lucifer were after, it would be the perfect solution. Keep him like this, and let Luci have Sam’s body. Unfortunately, Lucifer needed Sam’s soul too. It wasn’t so much the body that was the vessel, but the soul. That was why so few humans were suitable to be vessels. There wasn’t that much difference in their bodies, but the soul had to be strong enough to hold an angel. “Doesn’t work that way kiddo. He needs your soul as much as your body,” Gabriel tried to calm him down. 

“That doesn’t mean I’m gonna let some kid walk around in my body?!” Sam’s voice raised a few octaves with that. 

“Yes. I can see how that would be rather…unsettling for you,” Gabriel admitted, still quite amused. He wanted to play this out for a little longer…okay a lot longer…but his grace had other ideas. It was already coiling and he suppressed his sigh as it reached out and transported them both to Dean and the fake Sam. “Lookie who I found,” Gabriel said cheerfully. 

Dean looked at him both confused and annoyed while the person in Sam’s body looked like he might wet himself. “And who the hell is that and why should we care?” Dean asked dismissively. 

Gabriel just burst into laughter again while Sam, in the kid’s body, huffed. “You didn’t even realize your brother had been body-snatched? Oh this is hilarious,” Gabriel gasped. 

“Oh come on Dean. I totally don’t believe that some kid I met in passing at a freaking burger joint could pass as me well enough to fool you for a minute,” Sam said incredulously. 

Dean narrowed his eyes at the kid who claimed to be his brother and the guy who looked like his brother. He clearly recognized bitch-face number twelve on the kid’s face while the guy who looked like Sam was edging nervously for the door. That decided him and he had his gun drawn on the imposter in the blink of an eye. “Who the hell are you?” he growled. 

“Whoa! Dean! That’s still my body! Don’t shoot!” Sam said frantically. 

“Don’t worry Sammy. Your guardian angel there can heal a leg shot, or a shoulder shot once we get you back in the right place,” Dean said menacingly. 

That seemed to make the kid in Sam’s body even more nervous and Gabriel just laughed harder at the wet spot forming in the front of Sam’s pants. “Oh look! Sammy wet his pants!” he crowed with delight. 

“That’s not me!” Sam protested. 

“Like anyone seeing the pictures is going to know that?” Gabriel asked laughing so hard he was doubled over holding his sides. 

“Don’t you dare, Gabriel!” Sam said indignantly. 

The reference to guardian angels followed by the name Gabriel proved too much for the poor kid who fainted and between Sam banging his head against the wall and the look of utter consternation on Dean’s face as he was left pointing the gun at nothing, Gabriel was gone. He couldn’t even hold himself up anymore as he hit the ground rolling. Even the kick from Sam didn’t sober him at all. His grace may force him to help, but it didn’t keep him from enjoying their plight immensely. 

Sam and Dean were left with nothing to do but stand there, arms crossed in frustration waiting for either the kid to wake up or Gabriel to collect himself to give them answers. It seemed like forever before Gabriel made it over to the wall to prop himself up as he wiped the tears from his eyes and his guffaws turned to chuckles. “I gotta say fellas. You really can’t buy this kind of entertainment. Truly.”

“How am I gonna get my body back,” Sam asked curtly, not really in the mood for Gabriel’s antics. 

“The kid has to reverse the spell,” Gabriel said and couldn’t even manage to be annoyed with his grace as it lashed out and materialized all the necessary components. “Soon as he wakes up he can get to work.” Once Sam was back in his own body and the amusement was over, Gabriel left, and Sam lay in bed thinking. He tried to trace every time Gabriel had shown up and tried to piece together a pattern. The only thing he could think of was the fact that he was panicked at the time. It wasn’t the danger or he wouldn’t have shown up this time or the first time he was drugged in the mental hospital, but how would Gabriel know his mental state from wherever it was he spent his time. He just couldn’t make it fit. 

He soon fell asleep and lost that train of thought though, and then lost himself in the case they were originally in this town to work in the first place. It was far easier than he would have expected to figure out that the witch was buried in the basement. How lucky was it that those records had been right there waiting for them? He almost suspected that Gabriel was behind it, but disregarded that thought. If Gabriel was there helping them, he would make himself known and rub it in their faces. 

Gabriel cursed when he felt the time disturbance and found himself back in the seventies. As much as he loved the decade, suddenly being here again, not of his own doing, couldn’t be good. He watched as dumb and dumber helped an unconscious Cas into the nearest hotel, and pulled some sleight of hand to make sure all they had available was the honeymoon suite. He pushed aside his worry for his little brother. It wasn’t his concern. He was more worried about what the hunters were up to. 

When he realized why they were here he couldn’t help but roll his eyes. They honestly thought it was that easy to just change the past? Of course, the other little seraph they had followed here apparently thought so too, but Gabriel could tell she had a few screws loose anyway. He could see the scarring on her grace from too much re-education. Some seraphs just simply weren’t able to handle it. He still thought that was part of the reason that Cassie was a little nuts. He’d been through more re-education than any other seraph in history. 

He was glad that Sam was ‘dead’ when Michael showed up or his brother would have seen the bond. He knew Anna and Uriel had seen it, but Anna was gone now and Uriel had his memory wiped along with John and Mary Winchester, so he was in the clear there. It was pure luck that Michael resurrected Sam in the same move that sent them back to the future so his secret remained safe and he breathed a sigh of relief. He even made a quick hop back to retrieve Cassie, heal him, and dump him in the Winchester’s motel room none the wiser about how he made it back. Like he’d expected, they assumed that Michael had sent him back.


	4. Chapter 4

Gabriel arrived at Sam’s side after the hunter’s sheer panic plucked him right out of the middle of an orgy that thankfully was just getting started so he was mostly clothed if you didn’t consider the way his shirt was askew and half unbuttoned. He looked around and saw the two dead demons and the blood still dripping from Sam’s lips and he cursed. “I’m sorry, Gabriel. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to,” Sam said frantically and Gabriel just nodded. He could already feel Famine’s influence settling over him as well. 

Gabriel’s grace was screaming at him to help Sam. This was something his grace couldn’t fix though, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t burn him alive until he fixed it. He forced himself to ignore it for the time being and focus on Famine until he ended up fully under the influence. He had just about had it with things outside of his control influencing him and he’d be damned if he let anything else do so. He disappeared without a word to Sam and headed to where he could sense the horseman. 

Sam was left alone in the motel, and he couldn’t help the despair that ripped through him. Gabriel had left. Even the archangel thought he was a lost cause. He couldn’t even look at him or speak to him. No matter how much he tried to smother the part of him that cared what Gabriel thought about him, it never completely worked and that was never more evident than it was right now as he was left alone and vulnerable. 

Gabriel appeared in the diner that the horseman was holed up in to see that he had arrived just in time. Dean was being held by a couple demons and his ever so proper little brother was kneeling on the floor eating raw meat like a dog. If the situation hadn’t been so serious, Gabriel might have even found it funny. His anger over Sam’s state, the way his grace was burning him and forcing him into things he didn’t want, the way Famine was attempting to do the same, and the fact that he was here in the first place, all rolled through him and his eyes flashed dangerously as he advanced on the infirm horseman. He reveled in the spark of fear he saw in his eyes, and just managed to remove the thing’s hand before the full blast of Famine’s power washed over him. 

Unfortunately, Gabriel’s grace yanked him back to a distraught Sam before he was able to free Cas and Dean, but he was sure that with the distraction he had caused combined with the loss of Famine’s influence, they would be fine. They weren’t really his concern anyway. He had to do something about Sam before his grace destroyed him. He wiped the room completely clean and disappeared with Sam to one of his properties and promptly cut his arm and placed it to the hunter’s lips. This was about the stupidest thing he could do under the circumstances, but he didn’t have much choice. It would just bind them more completely, but if he didn’t do it, then his grace would self-destruct. “Drink, Sam.”

“Gabriel…” Sam started to say, but the archangel took the opportunity to press his arm more firmly against the hunter’s mouth and as soon as the first drop hit his tongue, Sam was gone. He was grasping at Gabriel’s arm drinking like he was dying of thirst. Gabriel’s eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped to his knees in front of the sitting hunter as his pants became quite uncomfortable. Apparently, Sam had the same problem because the next thing Gabriel knew he was flat on his back, arm pinned against the floor as Sam continued sucking everything he could out of it and he was grinding his own erection over Gabriel’s. 

Gabriel knew this was a bad idea, but he was lost in the haze of blood sharing. It was a very intimate thing among both angels and pagans so he really couldn’t help himself as his free arm came up around Sam’s lower back pulling him down more insistently as his hips raised looking for more. As the blood rush pushed them both higher and higher, Gabriel knew he was going to embarrass himself by creaming his pants, but he didn’t really give a fuck at the moment and apparently neither did Sam, because they both spilled over with whimpers at the same time and Sam’s drinking pace gradually slowed as he rode out the wave. Gabriel could tell the exact moment that Sam came back to himself because he scrambled away from Gabriel like he was on fire. “Oh god! Gabriel! I’m…I don’t…” His eyes were wide like he thought he was going to be smote on the spot, but it was the disgust on his face that Gabriel noticed most clearly. 

Gabriel just reached out and knocked Sam out. With any luck he would wake up thinking it was all a bad dream. He transported Sam back to his motel room, landing the hunter on his bed only to find a frantic Dean looking for his brother. “The demons got to him, but I got him all cleaned up. It wasn’t his fault,” Gabriel said as he disappeared. He really needed that orgy now. 

Sam woke the next morning, well rested, to find his brother staring at him like he was waiting for him to go crazy. Sam blinked curiously for a few minutes before the memories of the previous day came rushing back. Did Dean know…who was he kidding? He could tell by the look on Dean’s face that he knew about the demon blood. “Dean…I’m sorry. I tried. You know I tried.”

“I know. I don’t blame you. I just wanna know how you’re feeling,” he said carefully. 

“I feel…um…great actually. Not like high great, but like me great,” Sam said rather ineloquently. “Gabriel…um…helped,” Sam blushed brightly at the reminder, and thankfully Dean was too relieved to notice. 

“Good. That’s great. I still have a bone to pick with him though,” Dean grumbled. 

“Why?” Sam asked curiously. 

“He popped in and took off Famine’s hand, but then just left Cas and I there with like ten demons. We almost didn’t make it out. I can almost forgive him if he was helping you, but it couldn’t have been that hard to at least take out a few on his way out.”

“Oh…right…are you guys okay?” Sam asked worriedly. 

“Yeah. We’re good. Nothing a few days rest won’t cure,” Dean assured him. “You’re on food runs though since you’re feeling so good,” Dean said with a slight mocking tone as he lay back down on his bed with a groan. 

Sam gladly took the opportunity to get out of there and clear his head. He couldn’t believe what he’d done to Gabriel. It wasn’t that he hadn’t fantasized about stuff like that from time to time, but he had always imagined it a little more in his right mind and a little less…forcing himself on the archangel. He could just picture the situation he’d put Gabriel in. He either had to let him have his way or stop feeding him the blood to push him away, and Sam would guess that Gabriel’s blood was the only thing that kept the demon blood from screwing him up. He’d tried to apologize after it happened, but apparently Gabriel just wanted to forget about it, so Sam would do his best to abide by his wishes.


	5. Chapter 5

Gabriel paced frustratingly as he tried to figure out what to do next. Not only were he and Sam bound soul to grace, but now they were bound by blood too. Sam was no longer a distant presence in the back of his mind, only coming to the forefront in times of stress, but it was an ever-present thing. He managed to tune out thoughts, but Sam’s current mental state was very prominent in his mind at all times and his grace was reacting even more to every minor fluctuation in the hunter’s mood. These sorts of things were all well and good when you were actually with someone, but Sam could barely stand him and getting involved with the hunter, even if he wanted to, would be a terrible idea. 

He could feel the hunter angsting over what happened though and it was driving him nuts so after making sure he was alone; he went to see him. “I’m only going to say this once and then we can just forget anything happened, but I figure you need an explanation so here goes. The sharing of blood, for most beings, is a very sexual act. Unfortunately, in that situation it was necessary, but shit happens. It doesn’t have to mean anything so just get over it. Got it?” He didn’t want for a response before he disappeared. 

Sam blinked at the spot where the archangel had abruptly appeared and then disappeared from as his mind tried to catch up. As he registered what Gabriel had actually said his cheeks heated up, but he did become less upset and more thoughtful. It would explain a lot. Mostly how Ruby was able to seduce him so easily and how all of his barriers just fell with Gabriel last night and he barely even realized what he was doing. 

Once his mind was cleared from that incident, it was brought back to Gabriel and his timing. Once again, Sam had been panicked and Gabriel had shown up. Then today, how did Gabriel know he needed an explanation? How did he know that it was bothering him? That he even remembered? He slammed his fist on the steering wheel as a though entered his mind. Gabriel had better not be messing around in his head. He then resolved himself to never again think about the feelings he’d been hiding for the irascible archangel since their first meeting, but of course, as soon as he decided not to think about it, it was all he could think about. Sam really hoped he was wrong and Gabriel wasn’t listening in on him, but at least he would know one way or another. No way would he pass up on the opportunity to make fun of Sam for this. 

Gabriel was very deliberately not listening to any of Sam’s thoughts, but the hunter’s mood swings were enough to drive him to distraction so he set out to make his own distractions. Two very attractive distractions. When his grace tried to rebel that was the last straw for Gabriel’s already strained patience with this situation. “Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me! How the hell does that even count?!” he screamed with frustration as he snapped his fingers and the girls disappeared. It seemed that he and Sam were bound physically too; that one little rut on the floor when neither of them were in their right minds was apparently just enough to initiate that bond too. Gabriel let out another incoherent yell of anger and all the glass in two city blocks shattered. It was bad enough that he was tied to the damn hunter, but now he was stuck being celibate too? Maybe letting his brother kill him wouldn’t be so bad after all. 

If Gabriel hadn’t been so close to another solution for that whole mess, he might have made a suicide run against Lucifer, but in the end his, some might say overactive, survival instincts wouldn’t let him do it. The most galling part is that it wouldn’t interfere with Sam’s life at all. No, he got to do whatever he wanted completely oblivious to Gabriel’s plight. The archangel was almost tempted to trick him into activating the bond from his side too, just so they could both be miserable, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do that. Sam still had a chance to be happy. No matter what it meant for Gabriel, he couldn’t stand to take that away from him. Gabriel ended up taking out his anger on a few assholes that he’d overlooked with all the chaos going on in his life recently and he did feel a little better. Not much, but a little. 

Thankfully most of his trips to Sam were just popping in, seeing what was wrong and tossing the right website in the search engine or throwing a burst of healing to whatever body part he had hurt, and then popping right back out again leaving Sam none the wiser. Sometimes though, it was a little more serious. Gabriel suddenly found himself standing in the old guy’s dining room, as he drawled, “What’s shakin kiddos?” 

Sam narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Gabriel. Again with the perfect timing as soon as Sam started getting worked up. He was actually glad to see the archangel in this case though. Maybe he could talk some sense into Bobby. Sam had just opened his mouth to say something when the door opened and Karen popped in. Gabriel did a double take at her and raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Well hello there. I don’t believe we’ve met,” he said charmingly. 

“That’s my wife,” Bobby said indignantly. 

She just patted Bobby’s shoulder fondly, introduced herself to Gabriel, offered him some pie which obviously he wasn’t going to turn down and headed back to the kitchen. “That’s what’s shakin,” Sam said pointedly. He could tell that Gabriel had noticed something off about her. 

“Bobby won’t let us put her down,” Dean said annoyed. 

“Well I’d imagine not,” Gabriel rolled his eyes. These two were seriously emotionally stunted. “That is his wife after all. Well some of her anyway.”

“What do you mean some?” Bobby asked gruffly. 

“Her soul isn’t in there. It’s still safe in heaven. Which means she will turn eventually. Maybe hours, maybe days, but there’s no reason you can’t have some time to say goodbye before then,” Gabriel said with a shrug. 

“And we’re just supposed to wait and see?!” Dean exclaimed in a whisper, mindful of the partial zombie in the next room. 

Gabriel just snapped his fingers and Mary Winchester appeared in the room. “Put a bullet in her head,” Gabriel said as she started fussing over Dean. When Dean hesitated, Gabriel said, “Well go ahead. Don’t wanna wait and see do we?” 

“Gabriel, enough,” Sam choked and Gabriel’s grace got rid of her before the archangel even had a chance. When Gabriel saw the heartbroken look on Sam’s face, he wished he hadn’t done that, but it had made his point. Sam took a deep breath and got himself back in the game and said, “We still don’t know who’s behind this.”

“I do,” Gabriel said. “And it’s just the guy I need to talk to, so if you’ll excuse me, I might be able to catch him before he leaves town.” As usual he didn’t give anyone the chance to respond before he disappeared. 

“Like we called him in the first place,” Dean grumbled, as Sam started thinking. He wasn’t so sure he didn’t somehow. He was considering doing some experimenting, but part of him was worried that it would end up being like the boy who cried wolf. He never got a chance to completely decide before he got his answer anyway. 

Gabriel felt Sam die and was yanked to his side more violently than he had ever been before. He fell to his knees beside the bed as his grace yanked Sam’s soul back to his body and vaporized the escaping murderers before Gabriel even realized that he wasn’t on the beach anymore. The force involved left Gabriel feeling breathless and weak and that was the condition Sam found him in when he woke, not that he noticed at first. Sam’s first words were a choked, “Dean!”

“Don’t worry kiddo. He’ll be back. If Michael doesn’t send him back soon I’ll get him. I just need a minute,” Gabriel said weakly. 

“Gabriel? What the hell happened?” 

“No idea. I got here and you were both dead,” he replied. He figured Sam wouldn’t appreciate hearing about the deaths of the people who killed him, despite what they had done, so he kept his mouth shut on that. 

Sam narrowed his eyes again. He tried to ignore his dead brother on the bed next to him. He trusted Gabriel that he would be back, so he might as well distract himself by trying to figure the archangel out. “How did you know to come here? Why are you so…exhausted? You can’t tell me resurrecting me was more tiring than creating whole new dimensions and time loops. How do you always know when I’m in trouble?”

“I just have good timing I guess,” Gabriel said with a shrug. 

Sam wasn’t buying it. Not for a second. “Bullshit, Gabriel. I want a real answer.”

“No. You don’t,” Gabriel said frustrated. 

“Gabriel…” Sam said warningly. 

“Fine. You really want to know? My grace bound itself to you okay? Now, whenever you get annoyed or scared or frustrated or hurt or angry or whatever, I’m pulled to your side, regardless of where I am or what I’m doing so it can fix you,” Gabriel snapped, both literally and figuratively, disappearing at the same time as Dean woke up.


	6. Chapter 6

Sam’s reaction was torn between what the hell did Gabriel just say and his newly resurrected…again…brother. The fact that Sam knew that it was obviously Gabriel’s intention didn’t make it any less effective. When Cas arrived to grill Dean about what some angel named Joshua had said, Sam was still trying to jump start his brain. He did manage to catch Cas before he left though. He had caught enough of the conversation to know that Cas wasn’t really in the mood for conversation, but this couldn’t wait. He was fairly certain that Gabriel had no intention of explaining any of this to him so he had to find out somehow. “Hang on, Cas. Can I talk to you?”

“What do you want?” the seraph asked more than a little out of character. In fact, he seemed on the verge of a breakdown, and Sam felt bad about drudging this up now. 

“Alone?” He asked hopefully looking at Dean. 

“Whatever. I’ll go get breakfast,” he said throwing some pants on and heading out. 

Once they were alone Sam turned to Cas and asked “What does it mean for an angel’s grace to be bound to someone?” 

Cas’ head snapped up to look at Sam. “Why do you ask?” he asked suspiciously. 

“Well…um…Gabriel…he said…his grace bound him to me? I think? Something like that,” Sam said sheepishly as he tried to remember what the archangel had blurted out so quickly before he disappeared. 

“I…see,” Cas said slowly. “This…changes things.”

“How so? What does it mean?” Sam asked. 

“Well beyond the obvious, it means that Lucifer can no longer use you as a vessel. And also that any angel you encounter will be able to take one look at you and know that Gabriel is bound to you.”

“But you didn’t know?” Sam asked confused. 

“No. I am falling Sam, in case you forgot. Such sight is lost to me,” Cas snapped. 

“Right. Sorry. So then the apocalypse is over…right?”

“Not exactly. Lucifer is still free, and Michael must still battle him. This situation has simply taken his true vessel out of the game, and I doubt anyone is going to be happy.”

“You mean…what does that mean for Gabriel?” Sam asked worriedly. 

“It means that when it is found out that Gabriel is bound to you, he will become the most wanted being in existence by both heaven and hell.”

“So you’re saying they’ll kill him,” Sam said horrified. 

“No. Worse. You see Sam, as long as you are alive he can’t die,” Cas said stressing the word can’t. 

“You mean…” Sam’s eyes widened imagining the horrors that Gabriel would be subjected to, and he was sure that between the angels and the demons his imagination didn’t stretch that far. “No…” he breathed out. 

“I’m afraid so,” Cas confirmed his fears. 

“That explains why he was so pissed about it, but…how could this happen?” 

“An angel’s grace can only bind with his soulmate. If it did so against Gabriel’s will, then it was because Gabriel was attempting to deny his feelings. Not surprising given the situation,” Cas said bluntly. “Do you need anything else?”

Sam just shook his head absentmindedly as he turned the new revelations over in his head. He and Gabriel were soulmates. Gabriel had feelings for him that he didn’t want to admit. Forcing himself to look at it objectively, Sam could see his point. He wouldn’t have wanted to hasten this current situation, but Sam couldn’t help but wonder if it would have made a difference if Gabriel had said something before. I mean sure, he had just been a monster to Sam then, but maybe he could have pushed through that. Maybe Gabriel could have won him over despite that objection and avoided this whole thing altogether. That didn’t explain why Gabriel didn’t say anything now though. They were already up shit creek. They might as well take what enjoyment they could from it along the way. 

It took a little while for Sam to realize that Gabriel probably didn’t think his feelings would be well received. He tried to remember if he had ever said or done anything that the archangel could take as encouragement, but he quickly realized that he hadn’t. Just the opposite in fact. He had been trying so hard to hide his own feelings, that he had pushed Gabriel away completely. It would be rather hypocritical of him to hold Gabriel’s silence against him. He knew that if he wanted anything out of this then he would have to make the first move. He wasn’t sure whether to be happy or terrified though. Gabriel might as well have a price on his head. Could Sam really risk letting him in just to lose him? The bigger question though was, could he live with himself if he didn’t, and that was an easy question to answer. 

Before he got a chance to call Gabriel, he heard the impala rolling back into the parking lot. He would have to find a way to get rid of Dean. And also a way to tell his brother about he and Gabriel, or at least his hopes that there would be a he and Gabriel. He thought about coming clean completely and getting rid of Dean that way, but decided against it. He wasn’t sure how personal this whole bonding thing was and wanted to talk to Gabriel about it before spilling the beans anymore. He didn’t feel too bad about talking to Cas about it because if Gabriel had stuck around to answer his questions he wouldn’t have needed to. This was different though. He would wait. 

Unfortunately, getting rid of Dean was always a tricky prospect. His brother was far too suspicious for his own good. If Sam wanted any time alone or away from him, then he automatically wondered what Sam was up to that couldn’t be shared. It was understandable, of course, given everything in their lives so far and most importantly, the last year and a half and everything Sam had done. It did make having any kind of a personal life a little tricky though. At least until he was free to explain anyway. In the end Sam had to wait until mid-afternoon when Dean went out to hit a bar. Sam begged off, which wasn’t at all suspicious because he stayed back about as often as he went along. 

Once he was alone, Sam prayed for Gabriel and got no response. Somehow he wasn’t surprised. The archangel was probably off somewhere licking his wounds after his secrets being dragged out in the open like that. He wasn’t about to just accept defeat though. He had a plan B. Now that he knew how it worked he didn’t want to use it, knowing that it essentially took away Gabriel’s free will, but just this once was okay and he was working on a time constraint. He at least needed to know how much he could tell Dean. He closed his eyes and mustered up the panic he felt when he saw Dean dead earlier and sure enough, Gabriel was suddenly there in front of him. 

Gabriel narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the room seeing nothing that would have caused Sam to panic. He had suspected as much after he ignored the hunter’s prayer, but unfortunately his grace didn’t have as much sense. “What? Need to insult me to my face? Because I really don’t mind if you keep it behind my back.”

Sam ignored Gabriel’s irritation. It did confirm his suspicion about Gabriel’s continued silence though and settled him on the way to get through this. Part of him just wanted to grab the archangel and kiss him senseless, but he didn’t know enough about how this whole thing worked. If Gabriel would even have the option to say no at any point and he still felt terrible about what he’d done when he was high on all the blood. He didn’t know if Gabriel had the option to say no then either. No. He wasn’t going to risk forcing anything. He would have to bare his soul, but luckily Gabriel would have a surefire way to know if he was lying or not. 

“I’m not gonna insult you. Behind your back or to your face. The only person I told about what you said was Cas and that was just because I needed to know what it meant and you weren’t exactly sticking around to answer questions,” Sam told him. 

“Okay so now you know then. So what do you want?” Gabriel asked annoyed. 

“A chance,” Sam told him. At Gabriel’s confused look Sam explained. “I’ve…l-loved you since Ohio,” he stumbled over his words as his heart tried to beat out of his chest. “Even when you were just another monster to me. I just…couldn’t help it. If the damage wasn’t already done…given the danger you’re in now…I would never bring this up, but it is. You’re in this danger no matter what we do here, so I just…I want a chance…with you.” 

Gabriel narrowed his eyes searchingly at the hunter. “You need to know, Sam. If we go there…if we open that door…there’s no going back…so you better be really sure,” he said in as even a voice as he could manage. 

“Just one question that can’t wait,” Sam said not really sure how to word it. “I don’t want…I mean…you said that all this was kinda against your will and I just…”

“The bonding was against my will. My grace pushes me to help you and take care of you. It can’t make me feel anything or do anything physically against my will…besides come here obviously,” Gabriel said lips twitching in what would have been amusement if he weren’t so nervous. 

“Then yes. I’m really sure,” Sam said stepping forward and pulling Gabriel into a desperate kiss.


	7. Chapter 7

Gabriel returned the kiss just as eagerly and pressed Sam back against the wall as he tangled a hand in the hunter’s hair. Given the fact that he had been celibate for nearly a month now, he wasn’t at all surprised at how quickly he was getting worked up and when one of Sam’s hands moved to his ass to pull him tighter, Gabriel gave up trying to control himself. Sam said he wanted this so he could have it. He had all the buttons flying from the hunter’s shirt in one swift move, shoving it off his shoulders, as his lips moved to Sam’s neck. “This is a really bad idea,” he murmured while nipping and sucking at the soft skin there. 

“Don’t care,” Sam gasped out as he pulled Gabriel’s shirt over his head, whimpering a little at the loss of contact necessary to complete its removal. It didn’t last long though before Gabriel was back against him and Sam moaned at the skin contact and how it just made everything so much more intense. He lifted the archangel and carried him the ten steps to the bed and they tumbled down into it as Sam was now biting and sucking Gabriel’s neck as his hands fumbled hastily with the front of Gabriel’s pants. 

“Oh fuck it,” Gabriel breathed out as he snapped shaky fingers removing their remaining clothes and giving a gasping moan at the feel of Sam’s naked erection against his own. When he felt the hunter’s finger breeching his entrance, he clutched at Sam’s back and arched up off the bed. “Oh…god, Sam…just…just fuck me.”

Sam didn’t have to be told twice. He had wanted this for so long…wanted Gabriel for so long…there was no way he wasn’t gonna take everything he could get. He lined himself up and plunged in as his lips attached to Gabriel’s again and their moans were lost in the kiss. Sam set a quick pace from the start and he knew that this was going to be over embarrassingly fast, but he didn’t really care. Not this time. They could take their time later. He reached between them and took Gabriel’s cock in his hand. “God Gabe…so close…” he panted against the archangel’s mouth. 

In addition to the normal pleasure, Gabriel’s grace was singing and flooding him with even more. He knew that when he came, his grace was going to explode, but Sam would be bound to him then too and it wouldn’t hurt him so he didn’t even bother warning the hunter “Yes, Sammy…fuck…c-cum in me…shit…love you Sammy…” Gabriel gasped barely coherent. Sam spilled himself at the archangel’s words, triggering the same reaction from Gabriel, and sure enough, he cried out as his grace flew out from his body, shattering all the glass in the room as just a hint of Gabriel’s true form and voice shown through. 

Sam was left looking down at Gabriel in awe, panting as he caught his breath, still trying to come to terms with everything. He pressed another short kiss to Gabriel’s lips before he asked, more curious than concerned, “Why didn’t that hurt me?” 

Gabriel gave a nervous smile. He probably should have made this part clearer beforehand, but too little too late. “Because now you’re bound to me too. You can’t be harmed by my true form.”

Sam’s eyes went wide. “Wait…you mean…like…forever?” 

Before Gabriel could respond, the door to the room slammed open and Dean was standing there wild-eyed, angel blade drawn. He had been at the bar across the street and seen the signs of grace exploding and assumed that Sam was under attack. “Dean!” Sam yelled, rolling off of Gabriel and clutching the sheets to himself. 

Gabriel was left lying there, completely exposed, cum still glistening on his chest as he looked back and forth between the horrified expressions on both brother’s faces and couldn’t help but burst out laughing. That brought Sam’s attention to him and he started frantically trying to cover Gabriel up as well, making the archangel just laugh harder. 

Dean had mostly collected himself by that time and pointed angrily at Sam. “You and I are going to talk about this tomorrow.” Then he turned to Gabriel. “And probably you and I too…I don’t fucking know. I just need another drink,” he was muttering by the last part as he turned and walked back out the door. 

Once the door closed behind Dean, Sam couldn’t help the chuckle that pulled from him too. He was still mortified, but he could see the humor in it too. That and Gabriel’s laugh really was infectious. It took him a moment to realize that it wasn’t just his amusement he was feeling and that brought him back to what they had been talking about before the interruption. “Okay so…I’m…um…bound to you now?” 

Gabriel tried not to defensive as much as he could, but some hint of it still bled through. “I told you that if we went there then there was no going back. You said you were sure.”

“I…I was…I am!” he clarified seeing Gabriel’s face start to fall. “I just…I didn’t realize…” Sam trailed off a bit. “It doesn’t matter. It’s already done.” Gabriel’s head turned away as he started to get up, but Sam pulled him back and kissed him. “I don’t regret it, Gabriel. Not at all. Just gimme a sec to wrap my head around it.”

“Sam…” Gabriel said wearily. He didn’t want Sam pushing anything on his behalf. 

Sam just kissed him again before saying. “Please Gabriel. I love you. I want this. I just wasn’t really prepared for it to be so sudden. I know you can feel what I’m feeling. You must know that.”

Gabriel hadn’t even realized that his own insecurities had pushed Sam’s feelings to the back of his mind before the hunter said so, and he actually paid attention to them for the first time since Sam had first kissed him. He could feel the overwhelming happiness coming from Sam as well as the all-consuming love and devotion. Gabriel smiled brightly and lifted his head to kiss Sam, rolling them so he was straddling the hunter’s waist and grinned down at him. “I love you too, Sam,” he said earnestly as he dropped an impish kiss to the tip of Sam’s nose before settling next to him and curling up to his side. 

“So…um…I probably should have asked before…not that it would have made a difference…but I only got a basic overview of all this from Cas, so…”

Gabriel couldn’t help but snort in amusement. Only Sam would jump into an eternal commitment based on a ‘basic overview’. He propped himself up on his elbow so that he was leaning slightly over Sam and his fingers danced over the hunter’s chest as he asked, “What do you wanna know?” He could spend weeks going over the intricacies of the bond and what it meant in different aspects of their lives. 

“Well what does it change as far as like everyday stuff. Like…I can feel what you’re feeling and all…”

“Yeah. That came into effect for me when it was just my grace bound to you. Once I shared my blood with you though it went a little deeper. We can read each other’s minds and with a little practice communicate telepathically…”

“Wait…so you’ve been able to read my mind ever since…that day?” Sam asked indignantly. 

“I turned that part off,” Gabriel said with a shrug. “Can’t turn off the mood and feelings part though.” Sam nodded grudgingly, but couldn’t resist trying to read Gabriel’s mind and catching an image of himself covered in chocolate that Gabriel was licking off. Sam heard a laugh echoing in his head and the archangel’s drawling voice. “Careful poking around other people’s heads there, kiddo. Never know what you’re gonna see.”

Sam couldn’t help but laugh as well. He didn’t quite know how to do the telepathic thing yet. He would figure it out though. “So have you? Gone poking around in my head I mean?” 

“Nope,” Gabriel said honestly. “Scanned surface thoughts a few times to figure out what you needed so I could help when it wasn’t obvious, but that’s it.”

“Well now you don’t have to hide anymore, so just ask,” Sam said firmly. 

“Now you’ll be able to tell when I’m doing either anyway,” Gabriel told him. 

“Good,” Sam said with a nod. “So, anything else I should know?” 

“Just that neither of us can be with anyone but each other.”

“I’m not exactly the type to sleep around, so I’m good with that,” Sam said hoping Gabriel would offer a little insight on how he felt about that part. 

Gabriel rolled his eyes at Sam’s transparency. “I wasn’t exactly happy about it when I realized that that part of the bond was active, but now I get to have you so yeah. I’m good with it.”

Sam blinked at him a moment. He had assumed that part had come into effect tonight, but it seemed like it hadn’t. “How long…”

“Apparently that little rut on the floor after famine was enough for my grace to count,” Gabriel said annoyed.

Sam was torn between embarrassment, laughter, and sympathy, but in the end laughter won out. “Well like you said…now you get me,” he placated the annoyed archangel. 

“Mmm. Yes,” Gabriel said kissing Sam playfully. “I suppose that will have to do.”


	8. Chapter 8

“So Cas said something about as long as I’m alive, you can’t die?” Sam asked. 

“Yep. And now as long as I’m alive you can’t die. There are a few exceptions though. Well one exception really. An archangel blade. But if one of us dies, the other does too. Hence the ‘this is a really bad idea’,” Gabriel told him resting his forehead on Sam’s shoulder. He really didn’t want to think about this. 

“But the only thing that can kill either of us is an archangel blade?” Sam asked wondering how that was so bad. It was still a lot better than it was before. 

“That’s always been the only thing that could kill me,” Gabriel pointed out. “No. The problem is…I’m not gonna survive this one, kid. And now I’m taking you with me.”

Sam took a deep shaky breath and held Gabriel tighter, more for the idea that Gabriel was gonna die than himself. “We’ll find a way. We always do,” he assured him. 

“I’m not holding my breath. I was doomed the moment my grace connected with your soul. Maybe even the moment you walked into that college in Ohio. If there’s one good thing, it’s that I’ll actually have an afterlife now.”

“What do you mean?” Sam asked. 

“Angels don’t usually have anything after death. They just cease to exist. We’re bound together though. I’ll share your heaven.”

“Like I’d ever go to heaven,” Sam scoffed. 

“What the hell are you talking about?” Gabriel asked heatedly. 

“Come on, Gabe. I released Lucifer. I was addicted to demon blood. I was Lucifer’s true vessel. There’s only one place I’m going.”

“Oh yes, because the little human knows so much better than the archangel,” Gabriel rolled his eyes. When Sam looked at him skeptically, Gabriel clarified. “Look Sam. If your soul really was damaged enough to earn you a trip to hell, my grace would never have touched it with a ten-foot pole. As long as you don’t go selling your soul, you’ll be in heaven.”

Sam could tell that Gabriel was telling the truth, or at least what he believed to be the truth, so he let it drop and focused on something else. “So you’ll have to go home after all,” Sam said not sure if that would be a good thing or a bad thing. 

“Nah. I won’t be able to leave your…our…heaven. I’ll be just like all the other souls up there and the chances of any of my brothers or sisters happening across us is pretty slim. Besides…heaven hasn’t been home in millennia.”

“I’m sorry, Gabriel,” Sam said sadly, leaning his head against the archangel’s. 

Gabriel snorted derisively. “I just told you your reward for sleeping with me is death and you’re apologizing to me?” 

Sam knew it was tasteless and so not the time, but he couldn’t help the choking laugh that pulled from him. Gabriel lifted his head and looked at him like he was crazy. “Sorry…I just though…what goes around comes around,” he was snickering by now. He would blame it on hysteria. That didn’t seem to clear anything up for Gabriel though. “Every woman I’ve ever slept with has died badly.”

“And you find that funny?” Gabriel asked incredulously. 

“No. I really don’t,” Sam said truthfully despite the fact that it seemed otherwise. 

Gabriel just shook his head and burrowed into the crook of Sam’s neck. “You’re an idiot,” he muttered fondly. 

Sam and Gabriel were still cuddled up together, talking, laughing, and stealing kisses when Dean stumbled in a few hours later. He took one look at the duo in the bed and slurred, “You better be wearing pants under there.”

Gabriel snapped his fingers and said smugly, “Now we are,” earning him a smack from Sam.

“Whatever. Not dealing with this tonight,” Dean mostly managed to get out before he fell face-forward in his bed and passed out. 

Sam chuckled. “Don’t suppose you’d take care of him would you?” he asked Gabriel hopefully. He didn’t particularly want to leave the archangel’s warm arms to do it. 

“Take care of him? You mean like dump him in a lake somewhere?” Gabriel joked just as hopefully. 

Sam just shook his head, still laughing. “No. I mean get rid of his shoes, coat, and jeans and get him under the blanket.”

“If I must,” Gabriel said with a long suffering sigh as he snapped his fingers and did as Sam asked. 

Afterwards, Sam narrowed his eyes at the archangel. “What did you do?” 

“Who me?” Gabriel asked with fake innocence. 

“I can feel your smug satisfaction,” Sam said pointedly. 

“Not telling.”

Sam decided to explore his new abilities a little bit and pushed his way into Gabriel’s mind to try and figure out what he did. He felt nothing but amusement from the archangel or he would have stopped. He didn’t want to intrude where he wasn’t wanted, but Gabriel didn’t seem to care. He waded through a few more fantasies that he filed away for future reference before he found what he was looking for and choked on a laugh. “You didn’t…”

“I did,” Gabriel said with an evil grin. 

“Tell me you’re not going to leave it there,” Sam asked. It was harmless enough that he wasn’t going to make an issue of it for now. 

“Just until he notices,” Gabriel said with a shrug. 

“And just how often do you think he checks his ass in a mirror?” Sam asked incredulously. 

“With any luck…not often at all.” 

Sam groaned and shook his head. It seemed that Dean would be walking around with a tattoo of a very realistic looking biker dude framed by a heart for quite a while. After Sam drifted off to sleep, Gabriel let himself do so too, still wrapped in his hunter’s arms. They were woken rather rudely the next morning when the mattress was upended and they were dumped in the floor. 

Once Dean was sure they were both awake, he said, “Dickweed leave. I need to talk to my brother.”

Gabriel was not about to let Dean order him around. Especially not so rudely. He would leave it up to Sam. “Sam?” Gabriel asked pulling the hunter to his feet next to him. 

“Go ahead Gabe. We’ll be good,” Sam told him giving him a quick kiss and Gabriel shrugged and left. 

“What the hell, Sam? What did he do to you?” Dean asked. 

“He didn’t do anything TO me, Dean,” Sam rolled his eyes. He gave his brother the cliffs notes version of what was going on, having gotten the okay from Gabriel last night. After a little argument where Dean was convinced that Sam was being manipulated somehow, but Sam pointed out how that was pretty much the opposite of Gabriel’s best interests and Sam was forced to believe him. Especially when Sam reminded him of the conversation he’d had with Cas that confirmed Gabriel’s story. 

“So basically you’re saying that Lucifer can’t use you anymore and the only downside is you being stuck with the pixie?” Dean summed up. 

Sam rolled his eyes. He’d left out a lot, but Sam wasn’t going to try and convince Dean that Gabriel being hunted and tortured was a bad thing…not now anyway. Give him some time to get used to the idea first. And no way was Sam going to tell him the whole he dies, Sam dies part. He did have one other thing to say. “Oh and Dean?” His brother looked at him curiously. “I’ll let it go this time, but you will at least be civil to him from now on. I don’t care if you pick at each other, but don’t be an ass.”

“Whatever, Samantha,” Dean waved him off. “And we’re getting separate rooms from now on. And your little boy toy can foot the bill.”

“Fine,” Sam said annoyed. He was sure that Gabriel wouldn’t mind.


	9. Chapter 9

That settled, Sam called Gabriel and the archangel appeared directly in his lap and pressed a short kiss to the hunter’s lips. Sam’s arms instinctively tightened around him, holding him in place and Dean rolled his eyes. “Must you?” 

Sam started to shift Gabriel off his lap with a sigh, but Gabriel held firm with a pointed look at Sam before turning to Dean. “Yes. We must. It’s not like we’re going at it or anything. You can deal.” No way was he going to walk on eggshells and not even touch Sam when Dean was around. They were going to act like any other couple and if Dean didn’t like it, tough.

“Whatever,” Dean grumbled. “You said something about finding another way out of this apocalypse thing?” Now that he knew about the whole bond thing, he actually believed the archangel on that point and wanted an update on how that was going. 

“Yep. Got all the pieces I need to reopen the cage and shove Lucifer back in, but still have no idea how to do it,” Gabriel said with a shrug. 

“Why not just shove him in?” Dean asked as if it should be obvious. 

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “In a straight fight Lucifer would destroy me, and neither of us fight fair so I wouldn’t even have an advantage there either.”

“Well we can teach you fight, no problem,” Dean offered. If it would get the devil off their backs it would be worth it. 

Gabriel just burst out laughing and before long he was laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe as both brothers looked at him like he was crazy, Dean in annoyance and Sam in concern. Once he finally had himself under control again he said, “No offense kiddos, but that’s like a kindergartener offering to teach Bruce Lee how to fight.” 

Dean looked at him skeptically and Gabriel just snapped his fingers and they appeared in an open field. Gabriel handed both brothers angel blades and squared off against them. Dean wasted no time on attack, but before he could even figure out what happened he was disarmed and on his knees with Gabriel’s blade at his throat. “No powers!” he exclaimed. 

“I didn’t use any powers. Tell you what. I’ll slow it down for you this time,” he said smugly and when he let Dean up, both of them were coming at him. They managed to catch what he’d done this time, Gabriel having slowed it down just enough, and had to admit that he’d gotten them fair and square.

Sam could now see the humor in the idea of Dean teaching him how to fight, but he had a question that brought them back to the main purpose of the conversation. “Is there any way our bond could be used to our advantage?” 

“No. Absolutely not. If you think I’m putting you in that kind of danger…” Gabriel started. 

Sam sighed. It looked like he was going to have to spill the beans to his brother after all. “You know that if you die then I die too. We might as well increase our odds if we can.”

“Do what?!” Dean exclaimed. 

Sam winced and looked at Gabriel apologetically and with question. Gabriel did a quick surface scan and caught the question Sam was asking. “I’ll give you two some time to talk,” he said transporting them back to their motel room. 

“Look, Dean…”

“Don’t you ‘look’ me Sam! How could you keep that from me!”

“I wanted some time to figure out how to handle it first,” Sam tried to defend himself. He didn’t mention giving Dean time to get used to the idea of him and Gabriel together first. 

“How to handle it? Here’s how you handle it…you tell me and WE handle it. Like we always do!” 

Sam suppressed the urge to sigh. This was exactly the problem. They were so used to it being just the two of them that Dean had trouble understanding that there were things in his life now that Dean didn’t have a part of. It seemed it was time to rip off the bandaid. “Except this is an issue with Gabriel and I, not you and I. I get that I probably should have told you, but this is exactly what I was afraid of. You trying to make it about you.” 

“So what…you got a boyfriend and now I’m obsolete? Nice,” Dean scoffed. 

“No, Dean. You’re still my brother. You’re still my partner. You’re just not part of my relationship. There is one part of my life that has nothing to do with you.”

Dean refused to admit that his brother had a point, so he just ignored it. “So what…you go off and die and then what?”

“Well first of all I’m not intending to die. I just pointed it out to keep Gabriel from rushing into danger himself to keep me away from it. There’s not much point if he goes and gets himself killed in an effort to keep me safe when I’m gonna die anyway. And if there’s a chance that our bond can be used somehow to give us an advantage over Lucifer, then it only makes sense to use it.”

“Well yeah, okay, but…”

“And second of all, if I die then you do what you should have done to begin with. You move on. You have a life. Go to Lisa for crying out loud. Be happy. If I do die, then you won’t be able to bring me back this time. Not without Gabriel and I doubt anything has the juice to resurrect an archangel. So no more soul selling or deal making. Just let me go.” Sam needed to get that out in the open. He wouldn’t have his brother going to such lengths to get him back again. Nor would he have him wasting the rest of his life trying to. 

“Sam…”

“I mean it, Dean,” he said firmly. “I’ll be tucked away all nice and happy in heaven and I fully expect to see you there one day after a long and fulfilling life.” He didn’t know if his and Dean’s heaven’s would be connected. From what Gabriel had said, Sam gathered that there would be a chance, but he didn’t have the heart to come out and ask. 

“You know that for sure?” Dean asked skeptically. If he knew for a hundred percent fact that Sam would be safe and happy in heaven then maybe he could manage to let him be, but as long as there was the slightest chance…

“Positive. Unless you don’t think an archangel knows what he’s talking about concerning heaven,” Sam said wryly. 

“And you don’t think he was just trying to make you feel better or anything?” Dean asked. 

“With this bond, we’re in each other’s heads. I can always tell if he’s lying or stretching the truth or anything. There are no secrets.”

“Well. Okay then,” Dean said with a nod signaling the end of the conversation. “You better get your little boyfriend back here so we can do some planning.”

“More like eternally bonded life-mate,” Gabriel said appearing by the wall since Sam was still standing. “Boyfriend is a wholly inadequate word,” he drawled. 

“Yeah, well…let’s just work up to that,” Dean said grudgingly. 

Gabriel rolled his eyes before turning to Sam and said, “You mentioned using our bond and there might be a way.”

“Okay…I’m listening,” Sam said. 

“It depends on how much you trust me,” Gabriel said not sure if he wanted the answer to that question. 

“I trust you with my life, Gabe,” Sam said earnestly. 

“Okay…well…It’s been a very long time since I’ve done this and I need some practice so…” he transported all three of them back to the field, knowing that Dean would throw a fit if he was left out. “Okay, Sammy…just let go,” he said closing his eyes for a moment as he split his awareness into Sam’s mind. He could feel Sam fighting him for control at first, but he whispered telepathically, “It’s okay Samshine. I got you. Just let go.” He finally had control and he squared off against Sam, in control of both bodies and began fighting himself. He needed to get used to controlling two bodies at the same time. He often used duplicates for many different things over the years, but never for fighting. Not like this anyway. 

Dean watched in awe as his brother moved almost too fast for him to see as they fought furiously. It took him all of ten seconds to realize that Gabriel was in control of Sam’s body too and it made him a little uncomfortable. He wondered how aware Sam was and if he was being held prisoner or anything in there. He told himself that Gabriel had mentioned relying on trust and asked Sam to let go so he must need Sam’s cooperation which meant that Sam could take control back anytime. Sam may trust Gabriel that much, but Dean didn’t, which is why when Gabriel’s blade slashed across Sam’s chest, Dean yelled and ran forward. 

Gabriel lost his control over Sam as his blade hit skin and he stumbled backwards as Sam’s hand reached up over his chest in shock. Gabriel just shrugged it off though and pulled Sam’s hand away waving a frantic Dean off. “Sorry about that, Sammykins. Like I said. I need a little practice,” he said sheepishly as he healed the scratch. “There’s a reason I use training blades for this kind of thing.” 

“You couldn’t have told me that?!” Dean asked a few octaves higher than his normal voice. 

“You didn’t ask. I thought it was obvious that I would never risk hurting him,” Gabriel said rolling his eyes. 

“Don’t worry, Gabe. It was obvious to me,” Sam said with a chuckle earning him a kiss from the archangel.


	10. Chapter 10

They spent a lot of the next few weeks practicing with Gabriel controlling both he and Sam. A two on one fight would definitely be a boost and even if Lucifer brought his own clones into the mix, controlling them was far less graceful than a real person and they would be easily dispatched, which is why he didn’t think Lucifer would do it. He would want to keep as focused as possible on the real threat rather than having distractions. 

They essentially quit hunting for that time, given the fact that this was far more important, even though Sam pointed out that Dean didn’t need to be there. He just couldn’t stomach getting out there without Sam. They did get a call from another hunter that stumbled upon a survivalist town that was apparently going nuts. Everyone knew that they had ins with the angels so they wanted to confirm a few things. “Yo Gabe!” Dean called across the field and he released Sam and turned to the other hunter. “Leah Gideon…prophet?” 

“Whore,” Gabriel said evenly. 

“Geez, why don’t you tell us what you really think,” Dean said rolling his eyes. 

Gabriel chuckled. “The whore of Babylon. A false prophet. Set to corrupt people. Yadda yadda.”

Dean relayed the information over the phone and then turned back to Gabriel. “How do you kill her?” 

“Stake of cypress wielded by a servant of heaven,” Gabriel told him. 

“Servant of heaven meaning…” 

“Anyone who serves heaven above all else,” Gabriel said with a shrug not sure how much clearer he could be. It was obvious that none of them qualified so he saw little point in worrying about it and went back to his training. 

By the time their youngest brother was resurrected, they knew they were out of time. Gabriel ordered him to stay put, and even bound him to Bobby’s vicinity to be sure. If he and Sam died on this run, then he would be needed. The apocalypse would have to happen, and Adam could be used as a backup for Lucifer as well as for Michael. In fact, he would probably be a better backup for Lucifer than Michael if his attitude was anything to go by. Either way, if they died, then Adam would be free of his leash and the chips could fall where they may. Gabriel didn’t explain any of this to the others though. There was no point in burdening them. He couldn’t hide it from Sam, but apparently Sam agreed with him because he didn’t say anything either. “You ready to do this Samshine?” he asked wishing he were as confident as he sounded. 

“Let’s go kick the devil’s ass,” Sam said, putting up the same false confidence. Neither of them fooled each other of course, but they fooled the rest of the room and that was what mattered. 

They had decided to call Lucifer to the clearing where they had been training. It was far enough away from civilization that the chances of collateral damage were slim and they knew the terrain. It probably wouldn’t make much of a difference, but every little bit helped. Gabriel wasn’t about to risk removing the sigils from Sam’s ribs and having more than Lucifer show up so he just prayed to his fallen brother and sure enough, Lucifer was intrigued enough to arrive. 

“Gabriel…baby brother…and you brought me my…” he started jovially, but trailed off as he took a good look at Sam and noticed the bond weaving around them. “No! How dare you?!” he snarled, going on the immediate attack. 

Gabriel had known that Lucifer would see him as the real threat, so Sam had Gabriel’s archangel blade and Gabriel just had an everyday angel blade. Even once Lucifer realized that Gabriel had control of Sam as well, he still focused more on Gabriel. Gabriel had managed to disguise the blades so that his looked like the one Lucifer had to worry about. Not that an angel blade couldn’t hurt him, but only an archangel blade could kill him. The fight lasted a long time and they were all wearing down. In the end, it was Gabriel’s reluctance to kill his brother that was his undoing. The distraction to open the cage left him open for Lucifer’s blade to go through his chest. He lost his control over Sam and the hunter was left standing behind Lucifer and didn’t waste a second shoving his blade through Lucifer’s back with his last breath just as the light started pouring from Gabriel. 

 

Back at Bobby’s:

Bobby was trying to break up yet another fight between Dean and Adam when suddenly both he and Adam stumbled slightly. Bobby looked horrified, knowing what that meant, but Adam just looked triumphant. “Ha! I can leave now!” he said smugly as he started walking towards the door. 

“You realize that means our brother just died don’t you,” Dean managed to snap around the lump in his throat and the tears welling in his eyes. 

Adam paused a moment in his steps and closed his own eyes, taking a deep breath. Yeah he was pissed at them. No he didn’t trust them in the slightest. He wasn’t heartless though. A brother’s death was something to mourn no matter his feelings for the guy. “All the more reason to end this,” he said softly continuing out the door. 

Dean fell to his knees. He didn’t care anymore. Let the little brat go to Michael. Let Michael kill Lucifer. Let half the world burn. Maybe he could get back to Sam sooner. He was done fighting. 

 

Back in the clearing:

Michael was in no shape to worry about his own vessel at the moment as he looked at the dead bodies of two of his brothers lying in the ash of their wings and Lucifer’s vessel, just as dead along with them as tears stung his eyes. Contrary to popular belief he never wanted any of his brothers to die. That’s why Lucifer was in the cage to begin with. Once he escaped, he had no choice but to kill him, but that didn’t mean he wanted to. And Gabriel…poor baby Gabriel. He never would have chosen this for him. He knelt where the ash of their wings overlapped and placed a hand on each of their heads as he bowed his own head and cried. 

Before he left he noticed the horsemen’s rings lying in the grass and realized what Gabriel had been trying to do. He wondered what could have made the littlest archangel get involved. What could have made him try so hard. He barely spared a thought for the dead human along with them, but decided to attempt to be kind. It wouldn’t hurt him any. He pocketed the rings and waved a hand, Gabriel and Lucifer’s bodies reappearing in heaven and he took his own eager vessel…well backup vessel, so that he could take Sam’s body to his brother. 

 

Back at Bobby’s:

Michael, in Adam, appeared back in Bobby’s living room, having gotten the location from Adam’s mind. Sam’s body was on the couch. He found Bobby and Dean both throwing back whiskey. It spoke a lot to Dean’s state of mind that he knew exactly who was standing there in front of him and he didn’t make a move beyond glaring at him. “I have already retrieved the bodies of both of my brother’s. I felt that you should have the body of yours,” Michael said. 

Bobby was the one who spoke, “Both of your brothers?” 

“It seems that Lucifer and Gabriel killed each other. There will be no more apocalypse, and this vessel will be returned to his heaven.”

Before Michael could leave, Dean spoke up. “Wait. Will you…can you find Sam and Gabriel up there…and tell them…make sure they know…” Dean swallowed the lump in his throat. “Tell Sam I’m proud of him…and that I’ll do what he wanted.”

Michael looked at the hunter curiously. He would normally not even consider such a request, but as one being mourning the loss of brothers to another, he felt the need to accept. “I will attempt to find your brother, but angels…even archangels…do not have an afterlife.”

Dean realized that Michael wasn’t aware of Sam and Gabriel’s bond, and wasn’t sure if he should spill the beans, but figured it couldn’t hurt now, and maybe it would help. “What about when they are bound to a human?” 

Michael’s eyes widened and suddenly everything made sense. How the vessels had been so easily hidden from their sight, why Gabriel would get involved, and how Sam died. He had noticed the lack of injuries on Sam’s body, but he hadn’t actually cared about the hunter, so he didn’t consider it. Now though…It seemed that his youngest brother wasn’t completely lost to him after all, thanks to that particular human. He would find them. Hell he would dispatch all of the garrisons to search for the younger hunter’s heaven. “I will do as you ask,” Michael said before he disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternate extended ending incoming.


	11. Alternate extended ending

Sam had finally managed to ask Gabriel if his and Dean’s heavens would be connected and they weren’t. Over time, as Gabriel and Michael reconnected after the eldest archangel found them, they convinced him to make a little change. Sometimes it was good to have an in with the head honcho. Dean now had a house next door to Sam and Gabriel. Sam and Gabriel were curled up on the couch, while Michael sat in their recliner, having come to like what he used to call a ‘strange contraption’ when Dean stumbled in the door. 

The three of them jumped to their feet and Michael gave both of his brothers, having come to think of Sam much the same way, a hug, as he said, “I’ll give you all some time.”

Dean just stood there for a minute as he blinked in shock at his brother standing there before he rushed forward into his arms. They held onto each other for a good long time and when they broke apart even Gabriel was treated to a hug. Dean took the place Michael had just vacated as they sat down to talk. “I assume I’m dead?” 

“Looks like it. How long has it been? It’s kinda hard to keep track of time here,” Sam asked. 

“Fifty years give or take. Have you been…you know…watching over me or whatever?” 

“Nah. Contrary to popular belief, we can’t actually do that here,” Gabriel told him. 

“Yeah, so you’ll have to fill us in,” Sam added.

“Well once you were gone, I was done hunting. I just couldn’t stomach it anymore. I went to Lisa like you said, got a job in construction, and never paid attention to that kind of stuff again. I did take out a werewolf and a nest of vamps that wandered too close, but other than that, I lived a nice little apple pie life. Turned out Ben really was my kid, and we had a couple more, got married, etc.”

Sam grinned. “Sounds great. Really. We managed to get you set up next door. We get visits from angels fairly often since they found us. Apparently since someone told Michael that Gabriel was here,” he said pointedly more amused than anything, “He mobilized every angel they had to find us, and ever since we get plenty of company. Ash also found us a couple decades ago, but keep that to yourself. Michael basically has an ‘if he doesn’t see it, then it doesn’t exist’ policy as far as that goes so we don’t flaunt it. Harvelle’s Heaven Branch is pretty hopping most of the time though. You’ll love it.” 

“Actually, while you two catch up, why don’t I go let them know Dean’s here and we’ll get a party going for tonight?” Gabriel suggested and headed off to do just that. He was very glad when the strange kid found them. He loved Sam dearly, but he was so boring, and since Gabriel was essentially just along for the ride, this heaven was all Sam. 

“Party?” Dean asked his brother. “Who all is going to be there?” 

“Ash, of course, Ellen, Joe, Bill, Pamela, Rufus, Bobby, Mom, a few others who come in and out, but those are the big ones. 

“What about Dad?” Dean asked already choking up. 

“He might show up for a bit. He doesn’t get along with anyone very well, but since it’s you…” Dean nodded. He had long ago come to terms with the fact that his father was an asshole and practically ruined their lives. He was still their father though and it would be nice to see him again. 

When Sam said a few others, he was seriously underestimating. Harvelle’s was as much the hunter hangout in heaven as it had been on earth. There were some that weren’t welcome at all, like Walt and Roy who had killed Sam and Dean, and then those like John Winchester, who were barely welcome, but tolerated when they showed up. Dean ended up spending most of the evening attached to his mother. He greeted his father warmly, but like Sam had suspected, he didn’t stay long. Dean definitely didn’t miss the ice between him and Mary either. Turned out she was livid over the way he’d raised her boys. She was so glad that in the end, Dean had the life she had always wanted for him. 

A few years later, Lisa arrived and was apparently Dean’s soulmate as she shared his heaven. She was rather overwhelmed by everything at first, obviously, but they were happy. She was very glad to officially meet Sam who she felt like she knew everything about from as much as Dean always talked about him. She even spilled the beans that they named their first son, after Ben of course, Samuel Gabriel Breaden, Dean having taken Lisa’s name to distance himself from the Winchester legacy. 

Over time, even Michael and Dean put their differences behind them. Cas was the more common visitor to the Braeden heaven though, having been welcomed back after the whole apocalypse fizzled out. Not that he had never come to see Sam and Gabriel, because he had. He still considered Sam a friend and Gabriel was still his brother, but he didn’t visit nearly as frequently as he now visited Dean and Lisa. Apparently their ‘profound bond’ was still in effect. Eternity really was a long time, but they all made the most of it, even in the boring times.


End file.
